President Trump, who has repeatedly condemned voting by mail as “cheating” and pushed to limit the practice, cast a mail ballot this month in a Florida special election, public records show. Palm Beach County election records indicate he voted by mail in the March special election for Florida’s 87th District statehouse seat; he had endorsed the Republican candidate, Jon Maples.
The county’s elections site shows the president requested the ballot on Saturday, March 14; it was processed the next day, and his ballot was submitted and counted. Trump was at his Palm Beach estate that weekend, when in-person early voting was available.
About a week after submitting that ballot, the president said at an anti-crime event in Memphis, Tennessee, that “Mail-in voting means mail-in cheating. I call it mail-in cheating, and we got to do something about it all.”
The Washington Post first reported that Trump voted by mail in Tuesday’s election. CBS News has previously reported records showing he requested a mail ballot in 2020 as well; Florida’s public records system only displays votes cast within the past 365 days.
Trump has long criticized mail voting, alleging without evidence that it is prone to fraud and calling for stricter limits. He is backing the SAVE America Act in Congress, legislation that would add voter ID requirements and restrict mail voting. On Truth Social in August, he wrote, “I am going to lead a movement to get rid of MAIL-IN BALLOTS… ELECTIONS CAN NEVER BE HONEST WITH MAIL IN BALLOTS/VOTING, and everybody, IN PARTICULAR THE DEMOCRATS, KNOWS THIS. I, AND THE REPUBLICAN PARTY, WILL FIGHT LIKE HELL TO BRING HONESTY AND INTEGRITY BACK TO OUR ELECTIONS.”
Trump has blamed mail-in voting for his 2020 loss to Joe Biden, even though he won with similar voting rules in place four years later.